"I teach third grade and this is just a simple activity that I do with my kids when we are starting on this in math. I tape off various sizes of rectangles onto the floor. I call students up and first have them to stand ON the tape around the rectangles. We count to see how many kids it takes to go all the way around. We discuss perimeter and practice the concept with our rulers in inches. Then for my area lesson, we mark off rectangles once more but I mark it off inside the rectangle into boxes(3X3,4X5, etc.)and have students stand in each box inside the rectangle. We count to see how many it took to cover the rectangle. Then we discuss area and practice with rulers. This is very simple but it helps my third graders 'see' what is happening."
Links to worksheets, interactive widgets, etc (please be as complete as possible here):
Notes on using this lesson / suggested assessment / etc:
You could follow this introductory activity by pointing at other taped off areas in the classroom, and without allowing kids to touch them, ask them to find the perimeter mentally and to explain how they did it. Then, gradually move them to finding perimeters of rectangular shapes drawn on gridded sheets, with bigger and bigger side lengths. Eventually, they should no longer be counting but resort to adding "abstract" side lengths as labeled in the diagram.
Also, as a follow-up activity/assessment you can have kids use Geoboards to create rectangular shapes of specific perimeters, to make sure that their understanding of perimeter is applicable both forwards and backwards.
Using kids' bodies to represent the idea of a length unit inside the perimeter
Specific topic:
How to use a move-around activity to introduce the idea of perimeter of a shape.Key terms:
Perimeter, sumPrerequisite knowledge:
Students should know how to add whole numbersA brief description of the "hook" or activity:
Taken from the discussion at http://www.proteacher.org/c/321_area_and_perimeter.html:"I teach third grade and this is just a simple activity that I do with my kids when we are starting on this in math. I tape off various sizes of rectangles onto the floor. I call students up and first have them to stand ON the tape around the rectangles. We count to see how many kids it takes to go all the way around. We discuss perimeter and practice the concept with our rulers in inches. Then for my area lesson, we mark off rectangles once more but I mark it off inside the rectangle into boxes(3X3,4X5, etc.)and have students stand in each box inside the rectangle. We count to see how many it took to cover the rectangle. Then we discuss area and practice with rulers. This is very simple but it helps my third graders 'see' what is happening."
Links to worksheets, interactive widgets, etc (please be as complete as possible here):
Notes on using this lesson / suggested assessment / etc:
You could follow this introductory activity by pointing at other taped off areas in the classroom, and without allowing kids to touch them, ask them to find the perimeter mentally and to explain how they did it. Then, gradually move them to finding perimeters of rectangular shapes drawn on gridded sheets, with bigger and bigger side lengths. Eventually, they should no longer be counting but resort to adding "abstract" side lengths as labeled in the diagram.Also, as a follow-up activity/assessment you can have kids use Geoboards to create rectangular shapes of specific perimeters, to make sure that their understanding of perimeter is applicable both forwards and backwards.
Credit sources, if any:
This active lesson idea is taken from the discussion at http://www.proteacher.org/c/321_area_and_perimeter.html